1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hot-water supply system comprising a water heater and a remote controller for remotely controlling the water heater. In particular, it relates to indication of a physical quantity concerning the operation of the water heater on the remote controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known hot-water supply systems in which a water heater installed outdoors is remotely controlled by means of a remote controller installed indoors, such as in a bathroom or kitchen (for example, see Japanese Utility-Model Laid-Open No. 62-179561). Such a hot-water supply system is provided with a water amount sensor that detects the flow rate of water supplied to the water heater, and the flow rate detected by the water amount sensor is indicated on a display section on the remote controller so that the user can check the amount of water used.
In addition, the remote controller has a switch for setting hot-water temperature. Furthermore, if the hot-water supply system has a bath-filling function of supplying a predetermined amount of hot water to a bathtub, the system has a switch for setting hot-water amount. In such a hot-water supply system having the bath-filling function, hot-water temperature and hot-water amount are indicated on the display section of the remote controller as physical quantities representing the operational state of the water heater.
In a conventional hot-water supply system, the units of physical quantities (hot-water temperature, hot-water amount or the like) indicated on the remote controller are previously set and cannot be changed. However, the units familiar to a user of a hot-water supply system may vary with the country or area the user lives in. For example, in Japan, hot-water temperature is usually expressed in degrees Celsius, and hot-water amount is usually expressed in liter. However, in another country or area, hot-water temperature may be expressed in degrees Fahrenheit, and hot-water amount may be expressed in gallon.
Thus, in the case where a hot-water supply system is used in a plurality of countries or areas, in order to provide, on the display section of the remote controller, indications of physical quantities representing the operational state of the water heater in units familiar to the users in the respective countries or areas, a plurality of kinds of remote controllers have to be prepared that are different in specification of the units used for indicating the physical quantities. However, preparing such a plurality of remote controllers increases the number of Steps to be managed during manufacture and selling of the remote controllers, which can cause an increase in cost of the hot-water supply system.
In addition, if a user desires to change the unit of a physical quantity once a remote controller designed for the particular unit is installed, the user inconveniently has to purchase another remote controller designed for the desired unit as a replacement for the installed remote controller.
Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive hot-water supply system that allows a user to readily select a desired unit for a physical quantity indicated on a display section of a remote controller.